Fin issue on Spotted Mandarins

[bryanracing95]

Hello All,

I picked up a pair of spotted mandarins from Live Aquaria about 2 months ago and am having some issues with their bottom fins. I have successfully housed mandarins for years and have been in the hobby for over 10 years. Yet the progression of this fin rot like issue baffles me.


Tank parameters are great, loaded with pods, all other fish in system are very healthy and 10% water changes are performed weekly on my 200 gallon system.

Here is what is going on, I picked up a pair of spotted mandarins about 2 months ago from Live Aquaria, they arrived healthy and have been eating very well. I noticed slight cotton like discoloration on both of their bottom fins but did not treat them for it in QT as it did not progress and figured it was from holding and transit. The issue is that both of the fish are having issues with their bottom fins almost appearing to be "fin rotting" away. What i dont understand is how slow of progression it has been of the deterioration of the fins, in my past experiences fin rot has been pretty quick (within weeks usually) this case has taken a few months. There is some slight discoloration patches on their tails but that is about it, their dorsal fins are unaffected only the bottom two fins are ragged.

I am curious to as if they had a bacterial infection when I received them and it is just a slow progression type? I had them in QT for 4 weeks and the fins did not look that bad ( i dont treat with meds unless I have to )

I currently have them both in my 10 Gal QT and dosing Melafix to see if that will have any affect on the necrosis.

Please chime in if you have had similar symptoms in fish, especially with the mandarins.

Pictures are attached to seethe issues that I am speaking of.

 

[snorvich]

No experience with this. Melafix sounds like a reasonable guess.

 

[bryanracing95]

Help please!

 

[HumbleFish]

FWIW; Melafix contains "tea tree oil" and that probably does give the immune system a boost. The same positive effect taking vitamins has. Now, whether or not your mandys can beat this infection (via their natural immune system) is another matter. You might want to consider using antibiotics; I would suggest something mild such as erythromycin, being these are delicate fish.

 

[bryanracing95]

Any other input folks?

 

[HPark]

Hey,

There was an article in a reefkeeping magazine that spoke of this problem. The suggested treatment was Maracyn SW. PM your email and I'll send you the PDF copy I have.

 

[HPark]

If this needs to be removed, so be it...but I don't believe reefcentral is violating any copyright issues as this is for an educational endeavor.

Originally published in The Reef and Marine Aquarium Magazine Coral "Rethinking Dragonets" by Matt Pedersen" Page 56.

DRAGONET DISEASE
I've found dragonets to be very resilient and resistant to most diseases. This may be due to their very thick slime coat, which is said to be toxic and certainly seems to be distasteful to other fish. I've had Mandarins in a tank of fish that were heavily infested with ich; the Mandarins were the last to show any symptoms, and when they did there were thick balls of clear slime on their skin. I should point out that the use of a "œreef safe" medication killed all the scaleless fish in the tank when I tried it (both dragonets and gobies)"”there was no warning on the medication, but scaleless fish commonly have sensitivities to medications that other fish don't have.
The only recurring disease problem I had with dragonets was a form of fin rot. It would appear without warning, generally at the edge of the tail. Within a day or two, the tissue between the rays of the fin was often eaten away completely. The fish would usually be dead in another couple of days as the disease progressed. In the six years I've kept dragonets, I believe I had this disease break out four or five times (spread across three differ- ent tanks), and sometimes it only affected one of several dragonets in the tank. When I didn't act quickly, I lost fish. I did find some success in stopping this disease if I caught it early and treated the tanks with Maracyn SW (the active antibiotic is erythromycin). I should men- tion that these Maracyn SW treatments were done in full-blown "œreef tanks" without any negative effects on my corals and invertebrates (I should also mention that it can drive your protein skimmer crazy for weeks, and cannot say it won't stress out or even cause the death of more sensitive corals"”use at your own risk). I cannot say for certain that Maracyn SW is always going to be the proper remedy for fin rot in your dragonets, but it would be my first-choice medication based solely on my experiences.